#1518 Heroic Self-Compassion

In our last few +1s, Yogananda has been dropping his intense yogi-wisdom hammer and showing us how To Be Victorious in Life.

Today we’re going to talk about Heroic Self-Compassion.

Let’s get straight to work.

Yogananda tells us: “Learn to analyze yourself, looking at both the negative and the positive: How did you come to be what you are? What are your good and bad points and how did you acquire them?”

He continues by saying: “Then set about to destroy the bad harvest. Remove the tares of evil traits from your soul and plant more seeds of spiritual qualities, to increase the crop of the good harvest.”

And: “As you recognize your weaknesses and scientifically remove them you become stronger. Therefore you must not allow yourself to be discouraged by your frailties; to do so is to acknowledge yourself a failure. You must be able to help yourself by constructive self-analysis. Those who don’t exercise their discriminative faculty are blind; the native wisdom of the soul has been eclipsed by ignorance. This is why people suffer.”

Pop quiz time!

I’ve asked this question a number of times and come back to it AGAIN and AGAIN in our daily 1:01s so if you’ve been following along, the answer should be obvious…

Here’s the question…

What’s the FASTEST way to change your life?

(Think about that for a moment.)

(Seriously.)

(Think about that for a moment.)

What’s the FASTEST way to change your life?

Here’s the answer…

The fastest way to change your life is to STOP doing the things you know aren’t wise.

We need the Wisdom to know the game we’re playing and how to play it well. The Courage to have the (Loving) Curiosity to look at what’s working and what’s NOT working and the Self-Mastery to do the things we know we *could* be doing and to STOP doing the things we know we should stop doing.

Repeat. Spiraling up. FOREVER.

That requires a healthy level of Heroic Self-Compassion.

We talked about this in another +1 in which I called it Heroic Self-Encouragement.

We bring the flashlight AND the hammer to the party.

We shine a bright light of Curiosity on the stuff that needs work.

And then…

We bring the hammer of discipline to change our behaviors.

Another somewhat obscure twentieth-century teacher comes to mind.

In The Power of Your Supermind, Vernon Howard tells us: “Encourage yourself by remembering that any detection of negativity within you is a positive act, not a negative one. Awareness of your weakness and confusion makes you strong because conscious awareness is the bright light that destroys the darkness of negativity. Honest self-observation dissolves pains and pressures that formerly did their dreadful work in the darkness of unawareness.”

He continues by saying: “This is so important that I urge you to memorize and reflect upon the following summary: Detection of inner negativity is not a negative act, but a courageously positive act that makes you a new person.”

Spotlight back on YOU.

What’s working?

(Pause. Celebrate ONE thing that you’re CRUSHING and feel its positive benefits in your life. NICE WORK. That’s like you! 👏 )

And..

What needs work?

What will you do about it?

(Pause. Think about ONE thing you know you COULD BE CRUSHING and feel the positive benefits that you’ll experience when you dominate it. Take the next step in installing that habit! 🙌 )

Here’s your flashlight.

And your hammer.

Get to work, Hero!

TODAY.